Shut down airline, grief-stricken relatives demand

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"I want them to bring my children back" a distraught woman
tries to call family on the plane.Photo: AP

Angry relatives who waited six hours to be told if their loved
ones were aboard the ill-fated Cypriot airliner had to be
restrained by police as they were finally called in by airline
staff to check names on the passenger list.

Some relatives demanded the Cypriot Government stop the carrier
operating. "Close down Helios or we will close it for you," one man
yelled.

About 300 anxious relatives queued in the canteen of the
island's main international airport from which the aircraft took
off to be told the devastating news one by one.

Several collapsed, overcome by grief, and were taken in
stretchers to waiting ambulances. Airline officials admitted they
were not sure the manifest they were working from was a definitive
list of passengers who actually boarded the flight for Prague via
Athens. A school group of 48 bound for Prague was known to be
aboard.

"It is not a definitive list but we are doing this to try to
help the grieving relatives," said a Helios airline representative,
Nicos Anastassiades.

The airline announced emergency telephone numbers for relatives
and promised counselling for the bereaved.

"We are doing everything we can to keep people informed and
updated about this tragic accident," a Helios statement said.
Worried family members rushed to Larnaca Airport after news of the
crash broke around midday.

"Tell us if our relatives are dead," some demanded when Helios
officials arrived at the airport after about two hours to brief
family members.

"Give us the names, we have waited too long," said one relative.
One woman said she feared her daughter, son-in-law and grandchild
were all aboard the stricken plane.

Prodromos Prodromou said his nephew might have been filling in
as cabin crew on the doomed flight.

"It's like sitting on hot coals," he said before the airline
officials arrived. "No one has come here to tell us anything."

The President of Cyprus, Tassos Papadopoulos, interrupted his
holidays to rush to the airport where he was locked in talks with
airline and civil aviation officials.

"I express my profound shock and deepest sadness over this
accident," Mr Papadopoulos said in a statement. "At this difficult
time I want to assure the relatives that we will do everything to
support them."

The Government later announced three days of official mourning,
to start from Monday.